1. Technical Field
An aspect of the present invention relates to an inkjet head to eject ink onto a recording medium and a printing apparatus having the inkjet head.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, an inkjet printer to eject inks onto a recording medium, such as a piece of paper and fabric (e.g., a T-shirt), to print an image has been known. The inks to be used in the inkjet printer may include various colors, which are for example white, black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. The inks include water or other organic solvent, colorants, and occasionally, emulsion adhesive. The inkjet printer is equipped with an inkjet head to eject ink onto the recording medium and a carriage to carry the ink-ejecting inkjet head during a printing operation. The inkjet head is generally provided with an ink storage, in which the ink is stored. The inkjet head is mounted on the carriage and reciprocated along with the carriage in a direction perpendicular to a feeding direction of the recording medium. In many cases, the ink storage is connected to an ink container by a tube.
The ink storage may be equipped with a partition wall, which arises upward from a bottom of the ink storage. Within such an ink storage, the partition wall extends in a direction perpendicular to the reciprocating direction of the carriage. The partition wall divides inner space of the ink storage in two rooms, one of which is provided with an ink inlet and the other of which is provided with an ink outlet. The partition wall serves to reduce bubbling in the ink, which may occur when the ink in the ink storage being carried is ruffled. When the bubbling is reduced, the bubbles which may cause irregular ejection of the ink can be prevented. Thus, the ink can be smoothly and evenly ejected from the inkjet head, and qualities of a printed image can be improved.
When the carriage is reciprocated and the ink moves in the tube, pressures in the ink container fluctuate. The fluctuation of the pressures can cause uneven ejection of the ink. Therefore, in order to reduce the pressure fluctuation, the partition wall is formed to have a pressure absorbable flexible layer, which is made of, for example, resin. Such a functionality of the flexible layer is referred to as damper performance.